Police and emergency services at the Field's shopping center after a shooting, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday, July 3, 2022.
Highlights
- At least 3 people died, and 3 others got critically injured in a mass shooting in Denmark.
- A 22-year-old Danish man was arrested after the shooting.
- Preliminary investigation reveals there was no other person involved in the shooting.
Denmark Mall Shooting: At least 3 people died, and 3 others got critically injured in Denmark's capital Copenhagen after a man opened fire inside a busy shopping mall. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen expressed shock at the incident, calling it "incomprehensible, heartbreaking, pointless", reported the news agency AP. A 22-year-old Danish man was arrested after the shooting, Copenhagen police inspector Søren Thomassen told reporters.
Preliminary investigation reveals there was no other person involved in the shooting, though police are still investigating. The shooting happened in the late afternoon at Field’s, one of the biggest shopping malls in Scandinavia and located on the outskirts of the Danish capital. The incident took many by surprise, as gun violence is relatively rare in Denmark.
“It is pure terror": Witnesses express shock
The mall was crowded at the time of the attack, hence there were many witnsesses to the incident. “It is pure terror. This is awful,” said Hans Christian Stoltz, a 53-year-old IT consultant, who was bringing his daughters to see Harry Styles perform a concert scheduled for Sunday night near the mall. “You might wonder how a person can do this to another human being, but it’s beyond … beyond anything that’s possible,” he added. Another witness Mahdi Al-Wazni spoke to Danish boardcaster TV2 about the gunman, describing him as "violent and angry". Police said the victims included a man in his 40s and two “young people,” without giving details. Several others were injured, three of them critically, he said.
Images from the scene showed people running out of the mall, and TV2 posted a photo of a man being put on a stretcher. After the shooting, an enormous contingent of heavily armed police officers patrolled the area, with several fire department vehicles also parked outside the mall.
"Cruel attack", says Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the Scandinavian country had been hit by a “cruel attack.” “It is incomprehensible. Heartbreaking. Pointless,” she said. “Our beautiful and usually so safe capital was changed in a split second.” The shopping centre is on the outskirts of Copenhagen just across from a subway station for a line that connects the city centre with the international airport. A major highway also runs adjacent to the mall.
Organizers called off the Harry Styles concert, which had been scheduled at the nearby Royal Arena, by order of police.
(With inputs from AP)
